Gov. Lincoln Chafee is pulling the plug on his embattled choice to become the state’s interim commissioner of higher education.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee has tapped RIDE Chief of Staff Clark Greene to fill in at the Department of Higher Education.

Credit Ian Donnis / RIPR

Chafee said Eva-Marie Mancuso is dropping her request for a state Ethics Commission waiver to move into the position. The waiver is needed since members of public boards are prohibited from accepting an appointment from a board of which they’re a member. Mancuso serves as chairwoman of the state Board of Education and will remain in that post.

Chafee said the state will launch a search to replace the outgoing commissioner of higher education, Raymond Di Pasquale, before his term expires at the end of September.

In the interim, the chief of staff for state Education Commissioner Deborah Gist, Clark Greene, will be temporarily loaned to the state Office of Higher Education.

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